Sylvari: Young Love
by Feenacanyon
Summary: A pair of sylvari saplings are in love, but they are young and don't know much about feelings. They'll grow together.


Bariba turned her strawberry red eyes up to steal a glance at the norn woman talking loudly to her companions at the next table. The woman had been going on and on about a myriad of topics and Bariba had been absorbing it all with intense fascination. This was the first time she'd seen a norn up close, and one of few she'd seen visit the Grove. The current topic was relationships, at which Bariba had become even more interested. She'd lately been courting Yukarin, a dawn bloom who was a just a few days older than her. He had a lovely, swirling pattern in his bark and his pale but rich green leafs had caught Bariba's attention the first time they'd met. It was going swimmingly, but from what the Norn was saying perhaps it shouldn't be. Bariba tilted her head as she listened. This concept of "hard to get" was foreign to her, but she liked exotic things. Perhaps she should try this! If Yukarin "chased" her as the Norn put it, then she'd know he really loved her, or…something like that. Bariba wasn't quite clear on all the details, the Norn seemed to have over indulged in some of the local brew. The Norn was soon leaving with her companions, but Bariba remained in her seat and thought. Yes, it would be an adventure. Something different was always something worth trying in Bariba's mind. She smiled to herself as she finished her cup; what would Yukarin think of her tomorrow?

Well, Yukarin was certainly surprised the next day when Bariba flatly refused when he asked her if she wanted to walk down to the beach with him. It had been one of their most frequent activities. She waffled at his second suggestion and finally reluctantly agreed to the third. Yukarin had persisted and was clearly relieved and pleased when she finally agreed; this was going as well as planned! And so it went for the next few days. Bariba continued to be aloof and disagreeable and Yukarin continued trying to please her, his obvious pleasure when she would finally sigh and agree to his "silly" ideas was, she thought, making it enjoyable for him too. She hoped it was, because frankly it wasn't actually being much fun for her. He knew her well and his first suggestions and gifts were always more appealing than what they ended up settling on due to her stubbornness. She did like it when he came chasing after her when she ignored him and walked away, but other than that it seemed to be netting her little. Well, it must amount to something. Bariba didn't remember exactly what the norn had said about how things ended up in her experience, but it must be something very worthwhile for all this trouble. At least Bariba hoped it would be…Yukarin hadn't talked to her in a couple days, she'd barely seen him in the grove. He'd been talking about joining the Wardens, had he started training and was just busy? He hadn't told her anything about doing so…

The next day however Yukarin approached her in the afternoon as usual and suggested the beach. Bariba hesitated, she should say no…but she wanted to go to the beach. She huffed exaggeratedly. "Alright! You keep harping on the beach so let's go then." Yukarin smiled awkwardly and turned towards the northern exit from the grove. His usual excitement was not there. Bariba wondered if perhaps she should have said no like she had been so he'd be more excited when she gave in. Things seemed to improve as they walked however. Yukarin relaxed and fell into his usual habit of pointing out unusual plants or animals to her. No matter how much they explored Caledon it seemed there were always new things to see. Bariba was enjoying the trip immensely; she'd missed this so much. And Yukarin seemed so very attentive, he was constantly watching her reactions. They reached the beach and he turned up to the west, quickly leaving the sandy part of the area and scrambling over some rocks which soon became boulders. "Where are we going?" Bariba had meant it genuinely, however she'd gotten used to sounding haughty and it came out that way. Yukarin tensed and replied nervously. "It's a surprise, I want to show you something I found." He seemed to be doing things nervously a lot lately, Bariba didn't like that. She missed his quiet excitement. Soon came into view a darkness in the rocks, as they approached Bariba realized it was a hole. Yukarin went and crouched next to it, gesturing for Bariba to do the same. She knelt and peered down; it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to how dark it was in there but once they did she saw that there were hundreds of little lights glowing up out of the water. She gasped softly. Yukarin grinned next to her. "Isn't it beautiful, Bari? I found it yesterday. I-" Bariba saw her chance to get back into character. "Yesterday? What were you doing out here yesterday without me?" She interrupted. Yukarin stopped short. "Well, you've not wanted to come out here lately. So I came on my own. When I found this I thought-" Bariba cut in again. "You didn't ask me yesterday, how do you know what I would've wanted!" She now felt genuine annoyance. She had wanted to come to the beach for days! She conveniently forgot for the moment that it had been because of her that they had not been coming together. She stood up angrily. Yukarin opened his mouth but then closed it again, looking up at her, his confused expression melting into pain. Bariba was startled and shifted uncomfortably; she wasn't sure what to do. She took the easiest course. "I'm going home." She mumbled and turned quickly, heading back down the rocks.

Yukarin watched her as she disappeared into the trees, her red pigtails bobbing as she stocked away. He slid from his crouching position into a deflated sit. He didn't know what to do. Bari wasn't acting anything like herself. What had changed? They'd gotten along so well before. Bari had been treating him like a nuisance for days now. He clasped his hands together in his lap and stared down at the edge of the cave opening absently. He'd spoken to some of his other friends about Bari's behavior and gotten mixed answers. Some had said to try all the harder to be pleasant and patient with her, some had said that there must be something else going on that was bothering her, and some had said to end it and move on. He wasn't sure what to think or do. For a few minutes it had seemed like things were back to normal; but then she'd just turned on him. What had he done wrong? He noticed the tears pooling at the corners of his eyes and wiped them away vigorously only to have more take their place and start spilling down his face. "What's the matter, Sapling?" Yukarin jumped and tried again to wipe away his tears as he turned to look over his shoulder.

Bariba's steps slowed as she waded through the underbrush. Yukarin hadn't followed her like he always had before, and who could blame him? She'd acted so mean. Of course he'd come alone, she'd said no every time he'd asked for the past two weeks. She'd been treating him like trash for no reason. What did that norn know? Maybe this was something that worked for her people, but it was just making Bariba miserable, and now she'd really hurt Yukarin. The look on his face…In spite of her being so difficult and putting him down constantly what had been the first thing he'd done when he found something he liked? He'd tried to share it with her. And she'd snapped at him for it. She stopped walking. This was all her fault, and it was up to her to fix it. What was Ventari's teaching? Act with wisdom, but act? Well she'd been acting for days now with no wisdom, it was time to change that. She brushed the tears from her cheeks and turned boldly. She was going to apologize and explain herself, and it would be up to Yukarin if he could forgive her or not. If he couldn't she would accept the consequences….she sure hoped he would forgive her. She jogged back through the trees quickly and came out onto the sand. There was no one on the rocks where she'd left him, but she noticed movement to the east. She shielded her eyes from the sun and looked carefully. Three figures were running down the beach away from her; the one in front was Yukarin from the look of it. Who were the other two? That dark armor reminded her of something Niamh had described-Bariba's heart leapt into her throat when she saw one of them throw something at Yukarin and he fell roughly into the sand. By the Pale Tree it must be—they were Nightmare Courtiers! Without a second thought Bariba took off running down the beach as fast and hard as she could. She had no weapons on her except her sling, for which she was currently carrying no stones, but she didn't take time to think through what she was going to do when she reached them, she just had to get there. The two courtiers had already caught up to Yukarin who had been trying to untangle his legs from whatever they'd thrown at him. Mother, what if they killed him before she reached them? She saw a large uprooted plant that had floated up on shore and bent to pick it up without slowing; lifting it up behind her head with both arms it was so large.

"Let me go!" Yukarin was yelling as he tried to wriggle free from the grasp of the female courtier holding his left arm; the male had caught up as well and stepped on Yukarin's right arm as he tried to swipe his dagger at the former.

"Get away from him!" Bariba screamed, causing all three sylvari to snap their heads in her direction. Despite her fevered approach the sand and waves had muffled the sound of her steps. They turned just in time for the female sylvari to get the sopping wet plant Bariba had picked up right in the face; she released Yukarin's arm and staggered back a couple steps before falling into the surf. Yukarin was startled as well but kept his wits about him; taking his dagger into his left hand he stabbed it into the man's thigh. He cried out and fell onto his other side, kicking Yukarin away with his unwounded leg. The man had a sword and the woman seemed to have a staff and sword. Yukarin had only his dagger, but they had no distance weapons, escape was the best option. Bariba grabbed his arm as soon as he'd cut the tangling bits from his ankles and pulled him up. "Run!" She gasped breathlessly. He was already scrambling to his feet, sliding his arm up to grab her hand and nodding. The two took off down the beach. The female sylvari was after them in a moment but turned back when a Warden outpost came into view. The Wardens saw the two approaching and were running out to meet them, weapons drawn. "Night—court" Bariba was truly gasping for breath now and could only point behind her to try to finish conveying her message. It was enough. Three of the Wardens took off back down the beach and the remaining one offered support as Yukarin and Bariba stumbled into the outpost, panting with each step. Yukarin was limping slightly.

"Come, sit. We'll get you something to drink and have a look at that ankle." The Warden said as she gestured them to a branch that had been grown into something like a bench. The pair sat, but not for long. Bariba stood when the Warden came back with a pair of glasses. She handed one to each of them and then knelt to look at Yukarin's ankle.

"Does this hurt?" She flexed his foot slightly and he nodded once. "It's not bad though." He said quickly.

"It doesn't feel like anything is broken, likely just a sprain. Here." She reached into a bag and took out some leafs that seemed to stick to themselves as she wrapped them around his ankle tightly. "Try to keep off of it as much as you can for a few days. Are you hurt?" She looked up at Bariba who shook her head hurriedly. The Warden pushed herself up. "I'll go get you some more to drink then, finish that up. It will refresh your strength." She said as she walked away from the pair. Yukarin took a sip of the bitter drink and made a small face as he swallowed. Bariba didn't move, she just stared down at him as she tightly gripped her cup. He felt her stare and looked up at her.

"Bari? Are you alright? What's wrong?" He asked with concern when he saw her lips quivering and the tears beginning to fall down her flushed face. She dropped the cup and buried her face in her hands as she suddenly started bawling. Yukarin nearly dropped his own cup as he set it aside and gently took hold of her arms. "Bari, what on earth is the matter?" He asked again. A couple of confused Wardens stood to the side of the little alcove, waiting to see if they were needed. Bariba hiccupped through shaky breaths as she tried to stop crying.

"I-I'm sorry!" She sobbed. Yukarin blinked and gently pulled her hands away from her face, wrapping his fingers around hers. "Why are you apologizing?"

"It was my fault you were out there alone! I've been acting like…like such a beast to you because of what that Norn said and it was thoughtless and mean and stupid and I'm so sorry! You were so nice trying to make me happy even when I saw acting that way and I just left you alone out there and-and you might've been killed and it would've been all—m-my fault!" She choked on her own rasping breaths and turned to cough. Yukarin didn't know exactly what she meant by 'that Norn' but he understood that apparently there had been something else going on after all, she hadn't stopped caring for him. She caught her breath, mostly, again and went on falteringly. "I'm-so glad you're okay. I'm sorry. That lady said that acting like I didn't care would 'prove your affection' or some rot but I've just been horrid. Maybe I was doing it wrong I don't know but I'm sorry! Please, forgive me." She looked down at the ground and her shoulders shook as she hiccupped another deep sob. Yukarin let his own shoulders relax and dropped his hands, bringing Bariba's down with him. He tried to absorb her confusing string of words.

"Bari, you just ran down a pair of Nightmare Court with nothing but a plant to save me!" Bariba caught a snuffle in her throat and glanced up at Yukarin, who was smiling at her admiringly. "How can I be upset with you after you just risked your life for me?" He said more softly. She sniffled and removed one of her hands from his to wipe some of the tears from her face. "That doesn't excuse me hurting you before." She mumbled into her arm. Yukarin's smile faded. "Maybe it doesn't. But hey…" He pulled her hand from her face again and leaned forward so he could look up into her eyes. "I forgive you."

"Yuyu…" She let out one last, heaving sob and then abruptly all but fell forward to hug him; he was startled at first but quickly returned the embrace. The pair of wardens at the door, one of which was the lady with refills for the drinks, looked at each other and the shortest of the pair rolled her eyes. "Saplings." She said and went back to her post. The other shook her head and interrupted the couple; she wanted to get them safely back to the grove before night fall.


End file.
